


Maiden of the Dales

by Yidenia



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ancient Temples, Dalish Elven Culture and Customs, Gen, Magic, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Same characters different story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-05-24 15:13:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6157780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yidenia/pseuds/Yidenia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Instead of joining the Inquisition and becoming its Inquisitor, the First of the Lavellan Clan escapes the Chantry forces before they could clarify what happened. Pursued by rebel mages, defected templars, the newly-created Inquisition, and the armies of both Ferelden and Orlais, she must find a way to seal the Breach before the Mark on her hand kills her, but all Ellana wants is to be left alone.</p><p>In which Ellana of Lavellan somehow manages to accomplish things without the Inquisition, much to the disgruntlement of pretty much everyone else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cross the Waking Sea

Every year, Kaiten held The Fair, with goods from all across the Free Marches on display in little vending shops along its Main Street. The first one Ellana had gone to when she was six years old. She was new to the clan, having just manifested her magic, and the shemlen event had been one more new thing to get use to on top of all the changes in her life. The Keeper, Deshanna Istimaethoriel, was a middle-aged elf with fair hair and bright blue eyes. She had just risen to her new position; the reason there had been a vacancy in the clan. Floundering at her new duties, there was not much attention the older mage could spare for the girl outside of her magical training. Ellana was mostly on her own, trying to feel her way through the new dynamics of a clan that was already complete without her. Jaina liked Mavarth but did not like Ladas and Enstiaven enjoyed shemlen puzzle boxes and looked down on anyone who could not solve them within two minutes and how could anyone not know that Orlais was ruled by Empress Celene? There were more stumbles than solid landings, and by the time The Fair rolled around, Ellana was afraid of doing or saying anything at all.

The Fair had taken place on a bright summer's day, the weather pleasantly hot and the pavements bright and golden. Main Street stretched out in a colourful array of shops, red and pink stripes and green polka dots and glittering signs over steaming apple ciders, wooden frames for paintings, woven hats and crocheted blankets, fresh butter and baked bread. It was the first time Ellana had seen so many shemlen, and been with so many _people_ in general. She felt overwhelmed, and dearly wished she could withdraw to the cool shadows of the forest, where the air was filled with birdsong and buzzing insects and the rustle of branches as squirrels scampered overhead, but her new clan was trading, and those members who were not swept her into the traffic of people, dwarves and humans and city elves as the Templars loomed guard from the city walls.

She had gotten separated, as was almost inevitable in such a crowd. She had frozen, fearful, her bare face and linen garments doing nothing to identify her as anything other than an elf. Abruptly, everything grew louder, and what was once part of the background zoomed into focus like arrows pointing at her.Music played from the lawn, children laughed, and strange, indifferent faces flowed past, all going about their business and following their own current while she stood, still as stone, feeling as if she might be carried away by the sounds and colors and apathy into the unknown. She drew to the side of the street, barely managing to contain her panic. It was not so long ago that she had lost her home, her family, and everything she had ever known. Now she was lost yet again, and she knew, deep in her heart, that this time no one would try to find her.

The sun rolled slowly, and the current of people rocked back and forth, wagons creaking as they struggled to cut through the thick traffic. Mercenaries, clad in heavy leathers and mail, glared through her as they passed, their heavy swords and shields glinting and glimmering. City elves hurried between the gaps formed by the bodies, carrying boxes, bags, crates. She was surrounded and yet unanchored, desperate to find even a single familiar face. But the minutes stretched to hours, and the air grew heavy and hot, and the vendors went on selling and the patrons went on buying and there was still no Dalish elf to be seen. She was hungry, but had no money. She wanted to cry, but did not dare draw attention. It was well towards evening when the streets began to thin out, and one hunter, Reneth, passed her, carrying a box of pastries.

"Where in Creator's name were you?" he exclaimed, glaring at the child. "We were wondering where you went all day! Did you realize that we needed help at our stands while you were off exploring on your own?" He reached out and grabbed her by the wrist. "Come on!"

As luck would have it, the Lavellan clan had not been far from where Ellana had faltered and frozen. Upon beholding it, she was too embarrassed to feel relieved. Everyone assumed she had forgotten herself and simply browsed through the stands all day instead of helping out her clan members. As punishment, they had her help with the cleanup while the other children went back to camp with the hearthmistress. Ellana never did manage to explain what had happened that day, nor did anyone particularly care; one of the worst days of her life passed in their minds like a fleeting thought, and all that was left was the income from their leathers and rabbit-fur-lined gloves and arts and crafts and woven bags, and the new herbs the healers bought, good for poultices in times of trouble.

Twelve years later, the Lavellan clan understood Ellana no more than they did when she first joined them. She learned how to integrate, but that sensation of isolation remained. The only reason the clan ever took her was because they needed her magic. She did her duties well because she knew she had to, and negotiated trade and learned enough of human ways to interact with them diplomatically, so much so that sometimes Ellana felt more at ease with the shemlen than she did with other Dalish elves. Once the tasks were done, however, she would return to her studies. There was always that fear that if she failed in what they expected of her, she would be cast out; abandoned. Often, while others gossiped around the campfires and braided each other's hair and sought each other's company in the tents beside the aravels, Ellana would withdraw to her own work. She learned to read Elvish ahead of her training; without socializing with other elves, there was little to do but read.

"What an odd child," Deshanna would remark. Hair still fair and eyes still blue. She had grown into her role as Keeper, but Ellana had become independent long before Deshanna gathered her odds and ends, such that by the time the Keeper had room in her mind and heart to care, it was too late to be of much use. Ellana rarely sought her mentor's counsel, and so Deshanna rarely offered it; leader she might be, but a mother she was not. Still, she was perplexed enough to comment now and then, "What do you do all day, on your own?"

"Strange," said the hunters. The youths would try to include Ellana in their activities; the First had grown into a beauty in her own right, slender as was general among her kin, with fair, white skin and long, midnight-black hair. Her eyes were on the smaller side, but it served to make her look exotic and "artful". Girls would try to decorate her, boys would try to woo her. Ellana would tolerate their attentions but ultimately not reciprocate. Their words of endearment sounded disingenuous. Their gestures of friendship seemed fake and forced.

"She's good at what she does, though," the hahren would point out, and ultimately that was enough. Firsts were, in general, somewhat alienated from the rest of their clan. They trained differently, studied different things, and were viewed the same way as magic was: either useful, or dangerous. The person cursed with magic was of little to no importance. So long as Ellana remained useful, her idiosyncrasies did not matter.

 Such was the way of things.

* * *

 When the Conclave was to meet in Frostbacks of Ferelden, Deshanna did not want Ellana to go.

"She's too young," she insisted to the hahren. "The vallaslin is still fresh and tender. Against all the templars and shemlen chantry, not to mention the Circle mages—I do not think she is ready."

Said vallaslin was, indeed, newly healed; Ellana had only stopped applying healing ointment the night before. It was strange still; she could feel where her skin pulled on her expressions. Part of her felt settled by the sensation; she was Dalish and marked as so. She had chosen her god and had a path to follow. There was a certain security in having reached such a milestone; not everyone managed, after all.

"She has her vallaslin, and everyone at the Arlathvhen remarked that she is well advanced for her level of training."

"She knows a large repertoire of spells. That does not mean she is ready to apply them."

"She will never be ready until we allow her to prove herself."

Ellana herself would not choose to go; though the state of the world was an issue that affected everyone, the Lavellan clan was currently camped near Wycome, and the Concave was a long journey south. Anything can happen in between, not to mention the Conclave itself.

"We can send Reneth with her," said the hahren. "The roads are hazardous in these times, but the two of them should suffice. Reneth is an experienced hunter, and should give any bandit on the road pause."

"A young elven girl and her one chaperone," Deshanna summarized dryly. "I think you underestimate the danger. My apprentice is skilled for her age, but she is not invulnerable."

"We'll send more. I'll ask Reneth how many he thinks will suffice," the hahren looked at Ellana. "Unless  _you_ have anything to add."

Ellana looked at Deshanna and then at him. She said nothing. She could not tell the hahren that she was afraid. After all, she had earned her vallaslin. More duties, more expectations. The clan wanted an eye and ear in the Conclave and it had to be her. To refuse would undo all the work she had done over the years.

"Ellana is a good girl," said Deshanna. "She will do what we ask regardless of her own feelings."

"You don't want to go?" the hahren asked.

Ellana still remained silent.

"Emm'asha," the Keeper sighed, "why don't you go back to your…studies. I'll let you know once we conclude matters here."

Concluding matters did not change anything, other than assigning Ellana with five hunters instead of just Reneth. She received more detailed instructions: look but do not touch, observe but do not speak, only gather information and report back to the clan. Do not get involved, do not meddle, do not attempt to sway nature's course. If the meeting dissolves into violence, retreat. Ellana's sole objective was to spy without leaving a trace.

"We set out tomorrow," Reneth told Ellana. "Early morning, so we have a good stretch of day to go at an easier pace. I'll summon aid to scout ahead so that we should have a secure camp by nightfall." He reached out to squeeze her shoulder. "You look worried."

He was well into his thirties, and bonded with one of the healers. Though he had appeared imposing when she was a child, he was only half a head taller than Ellana since her growth spurt. His dark brown hair had grown past his shoulders, and he had braids woven through them, held back by a leather headband. His eyes were large and green, shadowed under his protruding brows. A handsome specimen of an elf, though Ellana never thought him approachable. Not since that night. Sometimes, she thought he might have realized; Reneth always seemed to gentle his words with her, especially as the years passed. She never felt comfortable with him, though; he was still intimidating in general, and even other hunters knew not to cross him.

In fact, she was not comfortable with anyone among her escort. One of the hunters was only two years older than Ellana herself; Pietre had golden curls and a very defined jaw, laughing eyes under straight eyebrows. He was a favourite among the maidens of the clan, as good with the sword as he was with the bow. His charisma felt like attacks, however, and Ellana tended to shy away from the onslaught. Pietre, finding her attractively enigmatic, would sometimes press and sometimes not when the mood suited him. Journeying with him could prove trying, though he might behave himself with Reneth present. Amarys, a huntress with black hair and golden eyes like a hawk, was a favourite among the men, and boasted a few trysts within the clan and even without. The two never really associated with one another, as it turned out, but Ellana had heard Amarys talk about herself enough times to know that she would gain little more by trying. Then there were the twins: Dalah'shen and Dalah'vhan, a brother-sister warrior pair who were both in their early forties, and usually cared little for Ellana's generation.

Five people Ellana must trust her life with, and she hardly knew any of them. The worst part was, she could hardly pick any better replacements.

 _Twelve years,_ Ellana thought wryly,  _and I have no friends._ Not for the first time, she wondered if the problem had been  _her_ , that she was just so unlikeable and so ill-fitted that no one would want to be her friend.

"You have interacted well enough with shemlen before," Reneth remarked when Ellana was silent for too long. "This is not very different. Their anger is with each other, not with you, and you do not have to direct them to do anything. You just have to watch and learn."

"I'm not worried about that," Ellana replied before she could think better of it. She did manage to keep her peace before elaborating; it would not do to insult the very people assigned to protect her.

"If you're sure," Reneth gave her a look, before stepping away. "Get some rest, da'len. You'll need it for tomorrow."

That night, Ellana barely slept. When she woke, she was exhausted and yet her nerves were strung tight. Reneth gave her a flat look when she joined them, knapsack over her shoulder, staff strapped to her back.

"All this for some shemlen gathering," Amarys yawned.

"There will be elves there too," Pietre pointed out.

"Mage elves."

"Mage elves can be pretty." Pietre winked at Ellana, who stared back without reaction. He shook his head at Amarys. "She doesn't get it."

"Of course she doesn't," Amarys dismissed.

Deshanna joined them before they set off as Ellana was gathering food for the trip. Dalish bread, dried berries, jerky and halla cheese. 

"The point is not to place you in unnecessary danger," the Keeper insisted. "If there's any problem at all, withdraw. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Keeper."

"Good. We only have one First. Your destiny is to become the Keeper of Lavellan. One Conclave is not worth that, da'len. Remember that."

Ellana appreciated the sentiment, though the words did little to comfort her. Between the five elves that were acting as her escort and the hahren, she knew that there was no way she could come back without bringing something from the Conclave.

They set off. The Dalah-duo led the front. At first, Ellana and Amarys lined the middle, but soon the latter lagged behind to flirt with Pietre, leaving Ellana on her own. She listened as the warrior siblings bickered at each other, while Pietre made increasingly lewd jokes. Eventually, Reneth moved to her side.

"I saw a city elf in Wycome," he said without preamble. "He wore the vallaslin of Dirthamen."

"Originally a Dalish, then?" Ellana wondered.

"It was so," Reneth nodded. "He left his clan after he already earned his markings. Used makeup to hide them, most of the time. He was dismayed to see that I noticed."

"Why?"

"I suppose he did not want to explain to a fellow Dalish, though he opened up eventually." He fell silent, and Ellana wondered what the point of this was.

"Have we treated you well?" he eventually inquired.

"What do you mean?" They had only been walking for a couple of hours at the most.

"The Lavellan," said Reneth, and Ellana realized he meant something more than just the six of them on this mission. "All Dalish are the last of the Elvhen, and ideally, it does not matter which clan you hail from, so long as we see you at the Arlathvhen. But different clans have different customs and a different feel to them. The Lavellan deal more with the shemlen than most others. Many see any interaction as unnecessary, and react with hostility. They think our ways are too complacent, too compromising, too  _lenient_ toward the thieves who stole what was rightfully ours. To deal with the shem is to tarnish the purity of the Dalish."

Ellana had no answer to that.

"But while clans may disagree, within the clan we are one." He paused. "At least, that is what it should be. We depend on each other so thoroughly for our survival. The Keeper to lead, the Hahren to remember, the hunters to sustain and the warriors to defend. In truth, this world is no longer ours, and we all must live on the ever shrinking territories that are yet unclaimed. We cannot build the mighty temples of old, or the great fortresses of our ancestors. We cannot stand our ground. So our resources are always what we can carry on our backs and in our aravels and on our hallas, and those are tight indeed. For this reason, we develop strong bonds. Almost all grievances can be laid aside, for my life is yours and yours is mine and in the end it is us against the world. So it was hard for me to imagine anyone can feel so ill-used by his clan that they should choose to abandon it."

Ellana had no idea why he was talking about this, and when Reneth stopped, she allowed the silence to stretch. But Reneth did not speak again, and the topic faded away. Her thoughts veered to the coming Conclave. She could not shake the feeling of dread, of being so far away from the clan for the first time. If anything should happen there, no one would look for them. The six of them were on their own.

Three hours later, they stopped for break. They had kept off the roads, which meant their journey was more arduous. Ellana already felt exhausted, and wondered how she would last the rest of the day, let alone the entire mission. Unlike the hunters and warriors, she rarely traveled on foot for so long, mainly staying close to the camp with her scrolls and books, with the occasional trip to somewhere isolated so that she might practice her spells. She sat down on the dirt, feeling her joints ache and her feet almost burn with relief.

The others, in contrast, did not even sit down. For them, the break was mainly to reorient everyone. The Dalah-duo were measuring the angle of the shadows to some fixed point in the distance. Amarys and Pietre joined the discussion. Reneth disappeared behind some bushes, before reappearing next to Ellana, looking down at her slumped form.

"Alright?" he asked.

"Fine."

 _"Hercinia doesn't have **real** mountains near it," _Dalah'vhan murmured,  _"there's no reason to go that way to avoid anything. Just go straight through."_

 _"Hercinia doesn't have a mountain **range** ," _Dalah'shen corrected.  _"It would be far easier to just go around then try to cut across."_

 _"I say we wait until we actually get there,"_ Amarys suggested.

She and Dalah'shen disappeared, leaving Dalah'vhan and Pietre to join Ellana and Reneth.

"Our young mage is already exhausted," Dalah'vhan noted, though not unkindly. "Shall we break for lunch or move on?"

"I'm alright," Ellana flushed.

"If you're sure, I don't know." She smoothed her ashen hair out of the way. "You look pretty comfortable there."

"All that book-reading," Pietre teased. "Don't suppose you know any magical spells to help you fly."

Ellana knew  _of_ such, but shapeshifting was a tricky form of magic, and not one to experiment with lightly. Deshanna herself never mastered it, and Ellana had been too nervous to try on her own.

Dalah'shen and Amarys soon came back, noting everyone's interest. Ellana rose to her feet, unwilling to be the center of attention while sitting down.

"Ho," Dalah'vhan huffed, "loyal pair of legs. We'll see how far they carry you. Shall we, then?"

"We can break now, it's not too far from noon," Reneth offered.

"It's hours yet," Ellana moved past to lead the way.

"Willful girl," Dalah'vhan observed. "Asha'elgar."

"She's the directive," Reneth scolded. "If she collapses, it doesn't matter how the rest of us are."

Ellana scowled. "I won't collapse from three hours of  _hiking_ ," she called back without turning around. After a moment, she heard footsteps as the others followed.

But after about an hour, her own feet betrayed her. She tripped on what appeared to be nothing at all, and almost fell flat on her face. Amarys instantly began snickering. Pietre was more genteel, bending down to help her up.

"I think a break is in order," Dalah'shen announced.

Ashamed, Ellana ate without tasting the food. Her stomach gnawed at her with hunger, but she had no appetite. The others nibbled at their rations, though they were less hungry. It figured that she would be the weakest link in this group. She wondered if she was really as necessary as everyone said she was. Just because the Conclave consisted of mages did not mean the Lavellan had to send one. The Divine would be there, as well as many members of the Andrastian Chantry.

"Mages really are quite frail," Amarys observed. "A little walking and they can't take it."

"Hush," Dalah'vhan remonstrated. "She feels bad enough without your teasing."

"We go at your pace," her brother stated, looking at her earnestly. "We hunt and train every day. This is nothing for us. We would never expect the same of you."

Ellana avoided his gaze. Her legs hurt. She wanted to send some kind of soothing magic through them, but did not want the others to see. 

"Not like I'm all that eager to see all the shemlen," Pietre shrugged.

"I wonder why the hahren thought it necessary for all of us to go on this trip," Amarys murmured idly. "This journey has been quiet so far."

"Venavis!" Dalah'shen snapped. "Why would you say that  _now?_ "

"Oh come  _on!_ "

"Let us hope your words did not tempt fate," Reneth frowned at her. "Our destination is dangerous enough. We do not need our journey to be the same."

"I'm glad there are more of us," said Pietre. "With all the shemlen hunting apostates, I would hate for our First to be wrongfully imprisoned."

Ellana shuddered, feeling her appetite wane even further.  _Just splendid_ , she thought.

She allowed herself to rest only a few more minutes after before suggesting they leave again, despite everyone's protests. This time she took extra care where she was going, which meant she paid even less attention to everyone else. As if sensing her dark mood, a silence fell over their party for the rest of the day. By evening, Reneth summoned a crow, which guided them to a camp site. They made camp early, setting up bedrolls before the sun fully set, with Ellana placing wards around the perimeter of the camp. The sky was still too blue for the stars to come out when Ellana crawled into her bedroll.

She was asleep instantly.

* * *

Despite being taught otherwise, the Fade always felt safe to Ellana.

She never remembered nightmares, if she ever had any. On occasion she might awaken with a lingering sense of dread, but what dreams she could remember were always mundane at the worst. Reading the same pages over and over again, but the words no longer making sense. Casting spells with the ease of breathing. Walking through temples, this time intact. She often wished she could sleep longer, just so she would not have to face the day. She never understood why spirits wanted to possess anyone. The living world was filled with heartache, stress, and loneliness. In the Fade, everything was simpler. Memories were memories, dreams were dreams, fluid and changeable as thought.

That night she dreamt of her parents.

She remembered them, as they once had been. She remembered her father coming back from the woods, lifting her high into the air and setting her on his shoulders. She had loved being so tall, and her father had known. Had tolerated her pulling on his hair. Had kissed her even when she was splattered with mud. A man did not care about such things.

She remembered her mother, with her hair in tight curls, soft and warm when it snowed outside the tent. Talking, about all the things Ellana could grow up to be. A huntress. A warrior. A halla keeper. She had told stories, of the Elvhen long ago, their glorious cities and the Evanuris on their shining thrones. A time when their culture had been all about rejoicing in beauty, before the fall of the Elvhenan, and the last of them quickened.

She remembered them beholding her like a horror come to life. No one had expected her to possess magic. She was to become anything except a mage.

No more hugs, no more stories, in the long weeks leading up to the Arlathvhen. The Keeper had taken her, and she had stayed with the First. She had wept and begged for her parents, and they told her it was not possible. It was only after joining the Lavellan clan that Ellana realized it was because her parents refused to see her again.

This time, she dreamed. Her parents were walking ahead of her, side by side. Ellana followed, struggling to keep up. It took everything she had to prevent the distance from expanding, and she never closed it. Around them, bridges led to tall mountains, to forests of pine, to deciduous woods, to wide stretches of grasslands where elven ruins lay half buried. Her parents never looked back. Ellana never called to them.

She followed them for the entire night, until Reneth gently shook her awake. Dawn was just beginning to glow, and the air smelled of dew.

"Da'len," he began, but appeared to cut himself off. "Bad dream?"

Ellana blinked. Her eyes were wet, as were her cheeks. She was surprised; she had not felt grief within the dream.

"No," she replied, because the dream itself was not bad. "Are the others up?"

Reneth studied her for a moment, before letting the subject drop. "They're getting there."

* * *

Amarys took it into her head that the girls should stick together that day. It seemed to be some kind of gesture aimed at Pietre, who was just affected enough that Amarys persisted throughout the entire morning. Ellana's whole body was sore and she could not spare the energy for talking, which left Amarys chatting away as they marched through the wilderness.

"This Arlathvhen, I plan on getting the top," she told Ellana, caring less about whether she was being heard and more about the sound of her own voice. "It's not fair that the boys win two years in a row. I've been practicing, you see. I aim always for the throat, and I'm getting it consistently. This year, Lavellan will be bringing home Andruil's Favour."

"Do the mages have their own contest?" Reneth asked. It was the first time anyone ever did.

"That would have been a sight to see," Amarys stated. "Fireballs and lightning matches. Lacks finesse, though."

Ellana disagreed, but she was in no mood to argue.

"Well?" Reneth pried, when no answer was forthcoming.

"We teach each other and exchange knowledge and spells," she finally answered, "but there is no contest, no. That would weaken the Veil. It was risky enough as it was, with so many Keepers and Firsts in one place."

"Hm," Reneth seemed to make a mental note of that.

She made it further before they took a break, though her feet hurt as if they were broken. She was so tired that she could barely eat, much less make conversation. Amarys grew tired of her.

"Can you be more dull," she finally snapped. "We're all doing this for you and you can't even bother to talk to us."

"Da'len," Dalah'shen remonstrated.

"No, but she just hides away from everyone and does whatever it is. Even at the camp she does this. It's bad enough she's a mage and she's already different from everyone else, but she's such a  _freak_."

"Amarys," Reneth said. His voice had gone cold and hard. Though he was not addressing her, Ellana felt her own stomach drop. Even when she had been young and terrified of him, she could not remember Reneth speaking like that to her before.

"Look, it's just the six of us," Pietre said to Ellana. "When we're back at camp, fine, you can do whatever, but we're by ourselves here. You can't just withdraw like that."

Ellana rubbed her calf as she sat. All at once, she did not care about pride or earning high regard. She  _could_ not care.

"When I'm back at the camp, I can get lost, you don't care, but now that it's inconvenient, you do care?"

"That's not what I said—"

"It's what you meant."

"Creators," Amarys cocked an eyebrow. "It's not like  _you_ ever cared before either."

"No one did," Ellana said simply. "So why are you now?"

Amarys blew out a breath, raising her hands and turning away. "Whatever."

The more elder of the group looked at each other with something like disgust.

"Don't take their words to heart, da'len," Dalah'vhan murmured. "They're spoiled."

Ellana was tired of this. "You all think the same. It's not like any of you were different."

They were struck speechless. Ellana set her bag and staff aside and pretended to go relieve herself. 

* * *

"Well, this is splendid," Dalah'vhan muttered as the three older members of the party convened in the front. Amarys and Pietre were, once again, together; the morning fit was apparently over. Ellana was in the middle, as was practical, especially given that no one felt comfortable talking to her. "If this persists for the rest of the journey, I'm not sure I can take it."

"Her attitude is unpleasant," her brother agreed.

"She doesn't trust any adult to correct her. I doubt she's even close to the Keeper."

"Well we can't have that. As crucial as it was for us to trust each other within the clan, out here on our own, it's absolutely essential. If she doesn't rely on us, we can't rely on her."

Dalah'vhan swore under her breath. "Creators. What a job the hahren has given us."

"She's sensitive," Reneth agreed. "The other two aren't. We probably would have done better if everyone had been older than her. Theirs is still an age when words aren't checked for barbs and hearts aren't shielded from them. But the First had always taken words to heart. Even idle comments that do not target her. But she is right; we do tend to forget about her until it is inconvenient."

"She doesn't make that hard, what with her disappearing whenever she can."

"We didn't make that hard either."

The siblings sighed and groaned in turn. Behind them, Amarys let out a high-pitched giggle.

"I'm worried we might lose her, at this Conclave," Reneth said to the other two. "Depending on how it goes. I feel that the clan does not have many ties to Ellana. She looks like she might venture out on her own."

Amarys let out another giggle, which was abruptly cut off with a choke. Alarmed, the three elves whirled around. Ellana, who had been using her staff as a hiking stick, looked up at them. Behind her, Amarys stumbled to the side. Pietre drew his sword in one motion.

Reneth looked to the left, grabbing his bow and reaching for his quiver. The warriors separated. Ellana dropped low, which had Dalah'vhan nodding slightly in approval. Amarys sank down. There was an arrow in her neck.

Ellana dove toward her, having realized what happened. Reneth saw the first attacker and let an arrow fly. He notched a second one but was forced to spin out of the way of more arrows.

"Shem bandits!" Pietre called out.

Dalah'shen charged into the trees as more figures materialized. Humans, mainly men, clad in leather armor. His sister followed, letting out a battle cry that shook the forest around them. Pietre stood guard over the girls.

The Dalah-duo made quick work of the bandits; these were not the trained fighters of templars or Orlesian chevaliers. They were tall and occasionally awkward, with their long limbs and their high center of gravity. Reneth did not even have to release too many arrows. It was soon over, but Ellana's magic kept flaring, bright green and sickly as she fought to keep Amarys from dying.

It was a kill-shot; they all knew. There was no recovering from an arrow to the throat, even with magic. The rest of the girl had been protected by her armor. Her mouth was painted with blood and she twitched and jerked as she tried to suck in air and failed. Blood was pouring down her chin, making her look like a ravenous beast. Her eyes were wide in terror and pain. Beneath her chin, the arrow still jutted out. Ellana had not pulled it—perhaps sensing that doing so would cause even more damage. Her spells did not require her to stay so close, but by the time Amarys stopped moving completely, the young mage was splattered with blood. Eventually, Ellana stopped too.

Pietre swore, unable to look at the sight. "Creators, I thought they said you were  _good_ at magic…"

Ellana looked at him. Her eyes were so stricken that for a moment, Reneth feared that she might have been wounded too.

"There was nothing Ellana could have done for something like that," Dalah'shen frowned.

"Really? I'm not so sure about that! Because everyone knows Ellana was jealous of Amarys!"

This was likely what Amarys told Pietre, while she was giggling at him instead of watching her surroundings.

Ellana had gone white, her lips almost blue. She was going into shock. Dalah'vhan went to her and gathered the young mage to her arms.

"Don't listen to him. We know you did your best."

Ellana abruptly slumped into her. She had fainted.

* * *

Dalah'shen performed the rites while his sister held Ellana. They could not stay in one place for long, so soon Dalah'vhan dragged the mage by the hand as they fled. Ellana was still grey, and she stumbled almost all of the way. Reneth brought up the rear, cleaning up the trail. He summoned wolves to aid them, and a pack of five came, two greys, one black, and two browns.

They surrounded the party, silent save for when their coats brushed bark and foliage. The alpha male charged ahead to find a good spot to camp. Once they arrived, Dalah'shen managed to get Ellana to set up wards. The girl's magic flickered and flashed, which had everyone on edge, but she managed and Dalah'vhan quickly drew her down to a bedroll. The sun was still high, but they would not be traveling further today.

The wolves remained, circling around Ellana at first before lying down next to her. The black wolf flopped so its belly was up and looked at Ellana expectantly. When she did not rub its belly, it rolled so that it was practically on top of her. Ellana cringed back against Dalah'vhan at first, though eventually she leaned into the wolf's fur. Colour had yet to return to her cheeks.

Pietre started ranting.

"She just sat there, casting the same spell over and over again even though it clearly wasn't working. Why wasn't she helping—she's cast offensive spells before! What are we going to do at the Conclave if chaos breaks loose? She's going to cast the same spell over and over again even if it doesn't work."

"I don't recall you doing anything to have prevented this disaster," Dalah'shen cut him off flatly. Pietre scoffed, golden curls bouncing, but the warrior pressed on, "I don't even recall you doing anything other than stand in one place, holding your sword out and striking at precisely  _nothing_."

"That's because—"

"Venavis!" the older elf snapped. "You were loud, you were distracted, and you took this mission for granted. Did you imagine we were on a leisurely stroll through Arlathvhen? Did you think the hahren and the Keeper sent us out so you and Amarys can have a series of trysts? We are here because our First needs to accomplish a task and so far you are doing an excellent job of hindering that."

"Why her?" Pietre snapped right back. "Just because she's a mage? It's not like she's there to show off her fancy spells! If the Keeper wants to spy on the shem, any one of us can do it. We all have to cover our faces anyway, so what difference does it make if we have magic or not?"

"It's not because she's a mage," Dalah'shen said coldly. "It is because she is the First, and will be Keeper, leader of the Lavellan clan, and proceedings here will have more to do with her than with any of us, because she will be the one to deal with the shem authorities."

"Well, I'm not staying around if  _she_ becomes Keeper," the youth huffed.

"I'll be sure to let the elders know," said Dalah'shen.

The young mage bowed her head as she stroked the wolf's fur. This time, the tears came when she was awake. Sensing her distress, the creature curled up and nuzzled her, licking the tears away, but Ellana simply turned her head to the side. The tears did not stop. 

* * *

The wolves stayed that night. Despite everything that had happened, Ellana fell asleep quickly. She had depleted herself, trying to save Amarys, and the run afterwards had drained her further. Demoralized and dispirited, she dreamed of the Conclave and getting lost there, of Reneth and Dalah'vhan and Dalah'shen abandoning her, just as Pietre promised to do. Around her were the cold faces of humans, dwarves, and city elves. She wandered, looking for a way home, a way back to the clan, but the clan had moved on in her absence. They did not want to wait.

She did not dream of Amarys; in truth, Ellana felt little to nothing about her death. She did not even feel guilt; she had tried, with single-minded focus, to save the young woman. As for trauma, Ellana had seen animals flail in their death throes, corpses of warriors after encountering shems, elves who died in agony from illnesses they had no supplies to treat. Death was not rare in the Lavellan clan, and Amarys was little more than a walking, talking object, with no more personality than a blunt sword or broken shield. But she knew that Amarys was a darling of the clan, the way Ellana never would be. Her generation would always favour Amarys over the First. Despite Deshanna's words, the First can be replaced; all they had to do was wait for the Arlathvhen, where some other wretched child with magic might be traded in. All Ellana felt was dread at the thought of going back having failed to save the huntress. Amarys, who had wanted to win first place at the archery contest at the annual gathering. Amarys, who was a favourite among the youths of Lavellan.

She woke up, half expecting her own party to have abandoned her, but the wolves slept around her, their bodies warm and alive. Dalah'vhan stayed close, stroking Ellana's hair idly. Nearby, a campfire flickered. Dalah'shen threw in a piece of wood. He was talking in a low voice with Reneth, though their words were mostly audible.

"She is still young," said Reneth, "they don't know where they fit at this age. It must be doubly so for a mage. You recall how desperately we all wanted to fit in, and the Keeper is still young."

"You recall the Keeper of the Sabrae clan."

"Let's not speak of that—"

"My point is, anything can happen, and Ellana's vallaslin is still fresh."

Reneth sighed. "What a mess."

Ellana clenched her jaw.  _What a mess,_ her thoughts echoed.

"None of us were particularly observant when it came to Ellana."

"She came at a bad time."

"She did."

Ellana curled inward, alerting Dalah'vhan to the fact that she was awake.

"Alright?" the older woman asked.

"Is she awake?" Reneth rose.

Ellana opened her eyes fully.

"Are you hungry?" Dalah'shen reached out. "Found some wild berries just south of here. Very sweet. We saved some for you."

The sky was black and the stars were clear. The berries were plump and juicy, almost tingling in her mouth. The taste woke her more than their voices had.

"Alright, ma'lan?"

She looked at the warrior, his sister, and Reneth, who was pouring hot tea into the cap of a water flask, used now for a cup. No sign of accusation. Pietre was sitting to the side, facing away from the group.

"Don't worry about him," said Dalah'vhan as she passed the cup to Ellana.

Ellana drank. It was hard not to worry, but the hot tea warmed her stomach like a hug she had dearly needed. Awake and alert, the apprehension she felt in her dreams seemed like a faded thing, hardly worthy of being acknowledged.

* * *

It was hard not to be discouraged with such a start to the mission. Now their numbers and decreased to five. They passed the next day in anxious silence. Somehow, Ellana found that she missed Amarys' obnoxious giggle. Perhaps the huntress had been too careless, but her presence did ease tensions as they traversed the wilderness. Now, there was nothing to distract them from the inherent dangers of venturing out as they have.

The wolves Reneth had summoned departed once the elves passed the boundaries of their territory. They traveled on their own until nightfall, setting up camp without the aid of Reneth's beast friends this time.

By the fourth day, they reached Hercinia, a looming human fortress like most city-states in the Free Marches. Tall walls of stone towered, with banners hanging at the gates. It overlooked a bustling harbor, with ships bearing faded sails docked at the ports. Dwarves, humans, and even Qunari mingled in the traffic. The elves paused just beyond sight of the guards, considering their options.

"The trip is short," said Reneth. "We just need to cut across the Waking Sea to Ferelden. Any of the boats with a reasonable fare would do. We should split up to save time. I'll go that way, you can try that one, and you two go on that side."

Picking the right fare was easier said than done. One look at their vallaslin had the prices inflated at least two-fold. Hercinians did not trust the Dalish at all. Ellana tried to barter, but recent events in Kirkwall had damaged the reputations of all mages, and her staff unnerved people.

"You might try leaving your oversized scepter with one of your companions," said one shemlen woman, who was the only one who appeared unimpressed. She sat on a crate with her legs apart and wore a low-cut blouse to accentuate her full bosom, which she elevated with pride whenever she stood straight. Her skin was dark but smooth, and her hair was glossy black, braided and beaded in turns. A golden stud pierced beneath her bottom lip, and her teeth gleamed gold when she smiled, making her look feral and more threatening than welcoming.

"Now," said the woman before tilting bottle of what appeared to be rum. "What's a little fawn like you doing in a place like this? There are no clans nearby. I'd know."

"I'm on my way to Ferelden."

"Ferelden!" the woman mock-gasped. "And what, pray tell, is in Ferelden that has you wandering around begging for a chaperone?"

Ellana stared flatly. "Authentic Ferelden cuisine."

The woman laughed, surprised. "Oh, I like you. Tell me, little fawn, are you all by yourself?"

"Why on earth would I answer yes to that?"

This inspired even more mirth. "Seems like not all little Dalish mages are so naïve." She set the bottle down and leaned her elbow on one knee. "The name's Isabela.  _Captain_ Isabela. And I'll take you and your four little companions on my ship for a good price too, so long as you do me a small favour. It's really doing all of us a favour, really."

Ellana tilted her head, wary. Her eyes flickered over the captain's daggers, unpretentious but casually present for those who knew where to look. "What favour?"

"Ooh, skeptic eyes," the dark-skinned woman purred. "Kittens and fawns aren't destined for Diamondback, I see. No matter. My condition is quite innocent, really. Rather embarrassingly so. I can't sail a ship without all its parts. Out in the sea, that is inadvisable. Now, I had purchased the required parts, but the scumbag has made up with them,  _and_ my gold. I want it back,  _with_ the gold if preferred, as a compensation for hurt feelings, as you must understand." She smirked. "I would go after them myself, but then that leaves my ship unattended, which was rather the cause of the problem in the first place. If you or one of your lovely friends can keep watch, and the rest of you help me get back what's mine, I'll take you to Ferelden and even show you around."

"How do I know you don't plan to just rob someone of the parts?"

"Ugh, people these days. Always so suspicious." Isabela leaned back and picked up her bottle again. "I suppose you have no way of knowing, but I'm not begging  _you_ to board my ship. I don't mind staying in Hercinia; it is pleasant enough, and it's people are so  _soft._ Wide-eyed and helpless as a baby, but packing some decent meat if you know how to use it.  _Mreow._ " She made another purring sound. "If you think you can find a better offer, be my guest."

Ellana glanced to the side, where her kin were still attempting to barter.

"Let me talk to the others," she remarked, though she could guess what the final decision would be.

Isabela simply tipped the bottle again, languidly smiling. "Be my guest."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emm'asha: My girl  
> Asha'elgar: Woman of spirit  
> Venavis: Stop


	2. Fade and Flash

The culprit, Isabela revealed, was actually a human woman by the name of Shanelle Gavery.

"Wild ashen curls," said the captain, "Really glossy ringlets. You'll know her when you see her, and you shoot on sight, because that one uses hidden weapons. Darts, needles in her gloves, poisoned hairpins; she's the Queen of Lethal Knick-Knacks and she's not above using the basest tricks to overcome her foes."

"Quaint," said Pietre, which summed up Ellana's feelings on the matter as well.

"Now, fighting her directly on her turf is only going to lead to a very embarrassing loss for you," Isabela went on. "You need to either draw her out, or end her without a fight. I am fine with whatever gets me my parts."

"She can't be the only one we need to address," Ellana pressed.

"Of course not. There's her oaf of a bodyguard; a tall, dark-skinned fellow who's almost as big as a Qunari. He is strong and has the toughest skin; sharp blades do the trick but you can drop a boulder on him and he'd just shake it off. She also has a team of elves; cunning little beasts, and recently she was also rumoured to have acquired herself some apostate mages. We have the full package deal."

"So you're saying that the six of us are up against…what amounts to at least a platoon, if not a company, of mercs with skills ranging the whole spectrum, in addition to your Queen of Lethal Knick-Knacks."

"I've triumphed over worse odds," Isabela chuckled. "Granted, it's up for debate which way the worse odds swing; the company I use to keep included nothing but the best. Let's just say, I trust my gut with this sort of thing, and the Dalish have yet to let me down. If you're daunted, however, by all means. I have no interest in taking part in a mission that's doomed to fail."

"I'm frankly interested in this Queen of Lethal Knick-Knacks," said Reneth. "If she's good, I might steal some of her ideas."

"Of course," the captain added, "someone needs to watch the ship."

The elves looked at each other.

"You do it," said Dalah'shen to his sister.

Dalah'vhan shrugged. "Very well. Something tells me I'll get more excitement here than any of you."

"You might not be wrong," Isabela laughed.

Pietre just sighed, looking rather unenthusiastic. Ellana herself had reservations, but Reneth and Dalah'shen both seemed unconcerned, as did Isabela, who might have been exaggerating the situation simply to test them. Either way, they had limited options; Isabela was the only one who was willing to take them across the Waking Sea. They could try searching for longer, but she doubted they would find anyone who would give them a better deal.

"Ready, then?" Isabela raised her eyebrows with a smirk, before waving them over. "This way."

* * *

Hercinia was city with a mosaic pattern. Ellana could see why she and the other Dalish ended up being conspicuous here. This was a place where many different races and backgrounds converged, but it was a city of mixtures, not pure integrity. Merchants with black secrets, murderers with just enough decency to inspire loyalty. All motivated by greed, lust, and pride. Unlike the other states of the Free Marches, once within the stone walls, the architecture was actually very colourful and varied. There were buildings with domed roofs and glittering steeples, thick marble columns and wooden arches. Yet there were many scattered areas of decrepit destitution mingling among the polished wealth. Hercinia was a center of trade, but also a center of piracy and corruption. Money flowed like the waves upon the shores of the Waking Sea, and even neighborhoods that were cultured had a gilded element to them; all surface and no substance. The people, too, seemed to be different puzzles pieced together; coarse linen blouses with pure gold necklaces, raw hemp breeches with fine leather belts. Isabela herself fit right in, with her fine earrings and ratty bandana.

They traversed the streets that alternated between cobblestone and brick. A young dwarf tried to pick Ellana's pocket, but she had no possessions save her staff. They came upon a market lined with vendors, but the air about them was twisted, and the stands were covered with fake items; antiques made one year ago claiming to be a hundred, herbal remedies claiming to achieve the impossible. "Four coppers and your baldness will be cured!" one crier announced. Isabela made her way past without a second glance, while Ellana wondered how such people could do business here when everyone was wise to them.

"Word would probably reach this Gavery," Dalah'shen noted solemnly. "We are very recognizable."

"Not the first time I traveled with a recognizable group," Isabela declared. "Granted, most of the time we weren't trying to sneak around, but the few times we had to worked rather well. People are surprisingly willing to ignore trouble when they have enough of it."

"And what recognizable group is this?" Dalah'shen inquired.

Isabela smirked. "How well do you know of the Champion of Kirkwall?"

Dalah'shen took up conversation with Isabela, during which the Dalish elves learned that their shemlen companion was originally from Rivain—not surprising, given her dark complexion. She did not divulge many details about herself, but she did reveal that she remained in the company of the Champion of Kirkwall for ten years. She hinted at a romantic relationship, but it was difficult to say whether she was simply playing with them. Ellana listened with half an ear; she found the embellishments and falsehoods rather tedious.

"Where is the Champion now?" asked Dalah'shen.

"That would be telling," said the pirate.

"Why did you leave him?"

"He isn't the most popular fellow, recently. We're all somewhat known, in the right circles. If we had stayed together, we would have been a bigger target."

"Yet now he is on his own."

"Hawke can handle himself. He didn't earn his title by  _buying_ it, unlike certain individuals. And here we are."

They drew up to a corner. An unassuming street stretched before them, leading into a bend. Shops and inns lined the place, large banners written in large letters. For an organization as shady as Isabela implied, Ellana expected a more sinister setting.

"Does the Queen of Lethal Knick-Knacks live in a Shop of Curiosities?" Reneth asked.

"Not only," Isabela grinned. "The Emporium is hers as well. That whole block is just a front. Squeaky clean on the outside, but on the inside they're dirty as…well, a man's insides. The chain opposite is made of more honest folk. As honest as Hercinians ever can be. Go on, my fine elven friends. The evening approaches, so we best make the most of the day."

Ellana turned to her. "You're not coming with us?"

"Not right  _now_ ," said Isabela. "Best you get your footing while the vermin need to maintain appearances. Get to know the terrain, then come back and we'll plan our approach. You might even see Gavery in the flesh."

"And if she recognizes us?" Pietre asked, speaking up for the first time.

"All the more reason you're not seen with me," Isabela pointed out, and then she did  _something_ which helped her slip away before their very eyes.

The elves hesitated.

"Why do I get the feeling we've been tricked?" Pietre asked.

"Probably because we were."

"She just vanished," Pietre looked in the direction the pirate had gone. "How are we supposed to find her?"

"That's not an issue," said Reneth, pointing upwards to indicate that he could always summon birds to help scout. "What I'm worried about is what exactly we're walking into."

"We can't go forward without going through some trouble," said Dalah'shen. "If our First is as good at casting as everyone says she is, best we rely on her this time. We gain nothing by hesitating and doubting."

Ellana swallowed her own doubts. After Amarys, she was not sure anyone should rely on her.

"No worse than some of the real traps we've walked into," the older warrior added, which seemed to convince the others.

_What traps?_

"Perhaps we should cover our vallaslin somehow," Reneth suggested, looking at Ellana. "I don't suppose you know any tricks of illusion that might help."

Ellana inhaled, shaking her head. "That was the whole point of the vallaslin. You can't hide it. The closest I can get is to make others ignore us."

"That might be better, actually."

"You'll have to stay close," Ellana warned. "I'm not sure what my range is, but I do know there's usually a limit. And you can't speak to anyone, or touch them. If you engage anyone in any way, the whole spell breaks."

"Do what you have to," said Dalah'shen.

Ellana folded her hands close to her chest, gathering her thoughts. 

 _Magic is mind,_ Deshanna use to say. Magic was the Fade, and the Fade was the mind. It was the reason dreams were largely shaped by the dreamer's own wishes and worries. Mages could reach into the Fade from the real world, so for them, the real world thus becomes a dream which could be altered accordingly. In reality, a mage could theoretically do anything he could think of. Spells were directed by conscious will and powered by subconscious alignment. Many spells required intense concentration and focus, but the actual methods were quite simple. Intent begets phenomenon, or so the Keeper liked to say. It was why mages were so dangerous; their only limit was actually their imagination. However, that did not mean all mages had the same potential. The Fade was made up of more than one mind or one thought, and channeling such things into a spell left a mage vulnerable and exposed to everything else in the Fade, as well as everything  _using_ the Fade. Blood magic was the most obvious example of how this could be disastrous. There was also the fact that when awake, the subconscious was much weaker, so spells were less powerful in the real world. In dreams, there was a lot of power but no direction; in the real world, the conscious mind was strong, but there was no substance to any command.

She was not feeling particularly confident at the moment, not just because of Amarys, but because the spell was originally restricted to the castor. As with all spells, it could be modified by intent, but Ellana had never used it on a group of people before, and at first she almost feared that the spell would not even form. She remembered when she was young, when she had naïvely believed that if she did not perform magic, she would not be a mage, and this thought pervaded until she could not cast even if she wanted to. Like lighting a tinderbox, strike strike strike, each time just wrong enough to fail to spark. But her subconscious prevailed where her confidence did not, and the spell flashed like the first flicker of flame, before smoothly ballooning out. Ellana stretched it further, willing it to expand in a neat circle. When she looked up, she could see the faint glow of it, aquamarine. It tingled along her skin.

The others looked at her expectantly. As was fitting, this spell was not very noticeable; she was the only one who could see it.

"It's done. We have a few feet across to maneuver." It was, frankly, more than she expected.

"Good enough," Dalah'shen nodded. "Let's go."

The corner store was a bakery, with real baked bread and cakes. It featured a cheery banner declaring 'YE OLD PIETOWN', which was somewhat appropriate as it did in fact feature pies. Some real patrons sat on the stools, looking out the window. Their eyes stared straight through the Dalish group. Ellana's spell held strong.

"Might as well go in and have a look," Reneth suggested. "She said each of these stores were just a front. Maybe they each lead to the same thing in the back. What do you think?" he looked at Dalah'shen.

"Makes no difference at this point, and we'd probably do better to be thorough. Who wouldn't want some pie at this hour?" The warrior led the way.

Inside, no one gave them a second glance, not even the humans manning the counter. In the back were the kitchens. Dalah'shen paused in front, but he was still within Ellana's spell and when none of the other occupants paid them any heed, he boldly went through the curtain that served as a makeshift door. A blast of heat met them; fires burned in the ovens as the bakers kneaded dough. There were dwarves among them, faces covered with flour and jelly. Someone was sweeping the floors. He veered around the elves, but also ignored them. The spell was not designed to make them invisible—only easily overlooked.

"Very nice," Reneth whispered, sounding genuinely impressed. He laid a hand on Ellana's shoulder, causing her to start. The spell held, but Reneth flinched back, then waited as if expecting their cover to drop.

"Argh," said one of the bakers, "bloody orange juice splattered into my eye. That stings." His hands were sticky, and the water basin was behind the elves. He left his station to head toward them. Dalah'shen unthinkingly stepped out of his way—right to the edge of Ellana's spell. Her breath caught; one inch more and he would have been out, but the baker went past and Dalah'shen caught himself at the last second. There was a light brush of his cloak against the baker's sleeve, but the spell remained intact.

Dalah'shen drew close to Ellana's side after that. "That was close," he muttered.

"Let's move before they all decide to wash their hands," said Reneth.

There was no apparent exit in the back. Cupboards lined the wall, and boxes of flower, eggs, and fruit stacked the corners. Ice boxes preserved the cream, butter, and cheese.

Stealth was difficult with four people. Someone was always bumping into things and threatening the integrity of her spell. They could not search efficiently, grouped together like this, so progress was slow. They went along the back and found nothing. Along the side, there was one door that was locked. Reneth studied it while the others waited anxiously, hoping they might move before someone else tries to head directly for them.

"Any way to make the range bigger?" Pietre grumbled.

"It's really only meant for one person," Ellana told him.

"Figures."

Reneth picked at the lock for quite some time, clicking away quietly under the din of the bakers mixing batters and whipping cream. When he succeeded, the door opened automatically, swinging with a rough creak. The elves all looked over at the bakers, but Ellana's spell was still diverting their attention.

"Good magic," Dalah'shen marveled.

Beyond the door was a small hallway, lined with brick walls and too small for all four of them to walk side by side; only one person could fit. Ellana waited until all of them were through the door before stepping through. By then, Reneth, who had been leading, was well outside her radius, and Pietre, who was behind him, kept sliding back and forth.

Around the bend, light cast down shadows to the right. Reneth pressed against the left wall, listening first, before moving his head forward. Whatever he saw had him holding his hand up. The others stopped. He ducked back and looked back, then made some kind of signal with his hand. Dalah'shen and Pietre both nodded. Ellana had no idea what he meant.

 _They have their own language here,_ Ellana thought. If she had been more involved with the others, would she have known them?  _Perhaps I should ask them to teach me. If we make it out of here._

Reneth suddenly jumped, stepping down to brace on Dalah'shen's shoulder. The latter moved forward as the former descended, landing in a crouch that was low but utterly silent. The warrior drew his sword, and swung out into the light. Reneth followed immediately, as did Pietre. Ellana scrambled after, half worried that the spell would fail—but Dalah'shen had already left, and Reneth unsheathed his daggers to impale in one smooth movement. With a spark, the protection dissipated.

There were guards, and they were elven, just as Isabela warned. Clad in the coarse armour of Hercinian's Alienage elves, they fought well once they got over their surprise, which did not last long. There were twelve in the alcove. Most of them drew their own swords, though a couple unsheathed knives.

Ellana hesitated. There was always something a little off about fighting other elves, even if they were not Dalish. It felt like they were fighting their own kin, no matter the lack of vallaslin. The guards, on the other hand, clearly did not share the sentiment. One threw a knife right at Ellana, which would have struck her in the face without Reneth's deflecting blow. He spun back into the fray before Ellana could grasp what almost happened.

She managed to gather her wits, and looked for an opportunity to cast a spell and turn the tide in their favour. Unfortunately, everyone was moving too quickly, and her clanmates were caught in the thick of the crowd.With Reneth moving back and forth, agile as a halla, she could not find room to insert her own powers. The most she could do was protect herself, throwing up the same spell she had cast before, but this time limited to her own person.

For the most part, the guards did ignore her; Ellana had yet to engage anyone. 

 _I should have trained with them,_ she realized. There were a number of things she should have done, instead of retreating every time to read her books and practice magic on her own. She could cast well when all was calm and serene, but in the thick of battle, she was flailing without the bond the others had forged between themselves.

But her opening came in the form of a bright purple blaze. Reneth stumbled back, limbs collected close to his torso. The spell did not hit Ellana, but she felt the echoes of the Fade and realized what it was. Faint wisps, like ghosts, launched at Reneth, who retreated further. He had been blinded.

 _Necromancy._ This particular spell was Horror, and it involved summoning spirits from the Fade to derail a target's senses. Ellana had never been in favour of summoning spirits to do her bidding. It felt too dismissive of what spirits were, too presumptuous of their role in the world. Deshanna had never liked them either, and had never taught Ellana such magic. Ellana only knew of them because of the books.

Reneth was vulnerable. He could not even rely on his hearing to perceive the world around him. Ellana looked quickly for the mage responsible. If she could stop the mage, she could stop the spell.

She searched. At first it was difficult to see the culprit, but there was the faint outline of a cowl. The mage had been using the same cloaking spell as Ellana until attacking Reneth. Like Ellana, he was standing back, out of the way of the melee.

_I have you now._

Ellana moved her body, willing it to help her focus. She gathered her thoughts like gathering the air in her arms, and shaped it with sweeping arcs of her wrists. Lights formed, swirling between her hands, and began to crackle. She wanted the mage down. She wanted him out for the count, like a strike from the heavens. The lights grew, bright and quick, and she threw it forward.

Her aim was true. The mage's body convulsed, lightning crackling over his form. He remained upright only because his muscles spasmed, and then fell, still seizing. He did not get up again.

Her cloaking spell sparked and dissipated again. The guards immediately saw her. One swung an axe at her as Ellana swung her staff out. He was too fast for her to think of a specific spell, so she aimed the staff at him and let it do its own work. The whole reason staves were created in the first place was because mages did not need to think to use them. While warriors and rogues could rely on reflexes to attack and defend, a mage normally needed to plan the specific spell to cast it, which by definition would not be reflexive. A staff already had a spell set, and all a mage had to do was power it and aim.

She aimed now. Fire pulsed out, heavy like oil, but the blast sent the guard flying back and clung to his armour, setting him ablaze. He screamed, falling away from her as the flames consumed him. She spun her staff again and felt it vibrate in her hand as it released another ball of fire. It hit another guard. She turned, still spinning her staff, and felt something glance off it, almost knocking it out of her hand. An arrow twirled in the air, flopping to the side.

One of the guards was an archer?

But it was not one of the guards. Reinforcements had come. Humans, some with bows and others with staves. Reneth materialized next to her, armed with his own bow. Pietre and Dalah'shen moved as one to join them, guarding from the front.

Ice crystallized along the floor, frost freezing in a path straight for them. On instinct, Ellana slammed the ground with her own staff, and the ball of fire crushed into the ice, stopping it in its tracks. She felt the ground shake as another mage also slammed the ground. Something hit her in the left shoulder; her head was bowed as she focused on the ice, so she could not see what it was. Her clavicle cracked, and she let out a grunt as pain stabbed into her and she stumbled back from the bow.

Reneth released three arrows in quick succession. Ellana raised her staff again to swing, but black dots bloomed in front of her eyes and all at once her strength failed her. The staff sparked uselessly, insufficiently powered. Pietre loomed before her, blocking any more spells with a few well-timed spins of his sword. She ducked under his cover and used her opposite hand to heal her clavicle. Fortunately, it was not a complete fracture; the bone protected major blood vessels underneath, and she doubted she could remain standing if it were. It was tough to concentrate through the pain, however, and the most she accomplished was improve the pain by a small fraction. 

Her head still spun when she was done. Dalah'shen had joined the ranks to flank her and protect her briefly as she recovered. It gave her time to think and plan on the next spell to cast. She glanced at her staff. Whatever spell she cast should be consistent with the spell placed in her staff.

 _I will make a fire pit of this place,_ she decided.

Flames erupted at her bidding, a wide circular area. The guards yelled as they were blinded, and smoke poured thick and shrouded the alcove in black. Ellana held out one arm to brace the fire, then yanked her other elbow down to summon a stream of frost from above, letting it wash away the smoke from where they stood. Dalah'shen, Pietre, and Reneth drew close to her, eyeing the scene in alarm.

Another waft of magic pulsed, glowing blue underneath the flames. The fires flickered, dying out, and water gushed out into the hallway. There was another apostate.

This time, Ellana was thinking faster. She sent a single bolt of lightning into the lake that pooled. The guards convulsed—then went down, splashing. The water trickled toward the Dalish, and Ellana quickly froze it before it could reach them. Ahead, the mage—a human holding a staff decorated with a deer's antlers—and two archers were still standing.

The Dalish broke formation. Ellana threw a spell at the mage, but at this point she was rather unnecessary; there were three opponents and they had three Dalish. Within moments, it was over.

Dalah'shen reached down to grab a tunic from a fallen guard in order to wipe his bloodied sword.

"Creators, da'len," he exclaimed, "How come I've never seen you make a giant bonfire before?" He lifted the scorched leather armor, but the electrocuted guard was covered in wet ash. Even the first mage, who wore robes, was completely naked, though beyond his bizarre state of undress, there was no clear sign pointing toward his cause of death.

Normal, in electrocution. Ellana had seen that before. She had never outright killed before, though, and especially not on such a scale. Her heart hammered in her chest and she felt lightheaded, but her nerves were strung tight, still on the high of adrenaline when danger was still very much present.

"Our First has been hiding tricks," said Reneth, though there was no hint of rebuke.

"Indeed," said Dalah'shen, opting to rinse his blade in the puddle. "She took out the whole group all by herself! We should bring her with us to everything."

"We wouldn't need  _her_ if Amarys were here," Pietre snapped.

Reneth placed a hand on Ellana before she could process what the younger elf just said. "You were hit," he reminded her. "Where is the wound? I did not see what hit you."

She had not quite  _forgotten_ about it, as the pain bore over her chest like a leaden weight, but she had been able to ignore it until now. All at once, she felt exhausted.

"I'm fine," she said, quieter than she meant to, and wanted to sit down.

But more reinforcements were coming, and Dalah'shen was quick to recover his wits, waving Reneth over so they could proceed. Pietre followed sullenly along the back, and Ellana spared a moment to cast the same cloaking spell over all of them. She leaned heavily on her staff as she walked, and had to grab Reneth's elbow to keep up. The older elf looked at her with concern, but did not protest.

_"The smoke's coming from this way!"_

_"Bloody mongrels…"_

Three dwarves, five humans, and two elves streamed down the hall, but this one was wider and Ellana's bubble was in full effect. They passed the Dalish without giving them a second glance. Dalah'shen huffed out another breath of wonder. Though Ellana was use to it, being so thoroughly overlooked while standing in the open was still a novelty to the others.

They reached a large room filled with parts. Large wooden beams, stone anchors, and metal chains. They accumulated in rows, leaving a maze of aisles for workers to walk through. For all intents and purposes, it looked like a room for a warehouse of a ship manufacturer; hardly worthy of any illegal smuggling, though Ellana could not pretend to know all nuances of a shemlen market.

There were no people around; everyone had presumably gone to help the guards in the front. Through one of the doors, a mabari pup barked. Ellana's spell did not include it, and it could smell them. The elves ignored it.

"We need to find a way out of here," Pietre whispered.

"Can't go back the way we came."

"We shouldn't have agreed to that pirate. Those people aren't trustworthy."

Past the dog, which did little more than bark and growl at them, were stairs, leading down to somewhere that seemed damp and cold. Torches dotted the turns of each flight.

They went down seven flights before finally arriving at the bottom. A large tunnel spanned underground, funneling water. Two boats were docked at the shore, and people were unloading cargo. Large, hefty supply boxes, goods wrapped in canvas and hemp, wheeling down the ramps and hooked onto pulleys. The workers were composed of mostly humans and dwarves, though there were three Qunari who appeared to be surveying the scene. This was an operation that was actually under the city, out of sight of the City Guard patrols.

"Creators," Reneth breathed. "This explains a lot. But where does the water come from? And where does it go?"

"Water flows from the mountains and into the sea," said Ellana. In the torchlight, she could see the direction of the current, gleaming as the waters rolled past.

"Maybe we can take one of the boats for ourselves," said Pietre.

"We don't know how to sail."

"We have our magical friend here, maybe she can summon some wind to blow us to Ferelden."

"Let's not make a scene here," Reneth drawled. "There are more people here, and if Ellana summons her magic to the fore, we might get drowned along with them."

Ellana was not sure how to interpret the remark. It could simply be a statement of fact. There  _were_ more people here. Some mages were also present, mingling among the workers and helping out. It was a curious scene of harmony and teamwork. If they worked together as well when defending their goods, Ellana would probably have a harder time subduing them than the previous group. She also felt more drained than before. Anxiety tingled all over, and her clavicle was very sore, radiating down the left side of her chest and making it hard to breathe.

"Then what are we to do then? We can't just squat here all night."

"We can ride the boats out of here, though," Ellana suggested. "We don't have to steal it. We can just go. I'll keep the spell active and we just…stow away."

The others considered.

"If we can get to them unnoticed, it should work," said Dalah'shen. "With Ellana here, that shouldn't be an issue."

"How long can you keep this up?" Reneth asked.

"With all four of us?" Ellana was not sure. She had maintained the spell before, but only in brief spurts, and that had been a much smaller range.

She did not ultimately provide an answer, but the others seemed to understand regardless.

"We'll have to find a good hiding spot on the boat," Dalah'shen said to Reneth.

"Might be easier said than done," said Pietre.

"It's either that or swim."

They glanced at the tunnel docks.

"I think this is our best shot," said Reneth.

"Then let's go."

Reneth reached over to take Ellana's elbow. As one, the elves moved forward.

* * *

Getting to the boat was not difficult, with Ellana's spell in place. Once on the boat, however, finding a spot that could hide all four of them was more challenging. There were spots, crevices between the cargo about to be shipped out, but no two options were close together. It became apparent that they would have to separate, going as far as traveling on different boats.

Reneth wordlessly remained close to Ellana, signaling to the others that however they distributed themselves, he was going to remain at her side. They dropped off Dalah'shen and Pietre at the first boat, hiding within the nooks and crevices of the crates, before boarding the second boat that was being loaded with rolls of canvas.

Reneth and Ellana were tucking themselves in when one of the Qunari thundered,  _"Break!_ "

All at once, the workers ceased, and the atmosphere relaxed, losing its efficient flow. Ellana peered curiously as all the workers on the boats moved back to the shore. The men already on land were withdrawing toward the walls of the tunnel and taking their seats. A number of them lit up smokes.

"This smuggling business is quite thorough," Reneth observed. "It looks like a completely legitimate organization from the inside." 

So it did. Ellana curled, watching the torchlight gleam on the rippling water. The smoke sailed across, thinning out as it spread. She felt an odd tingling sensation, as if the air around here were filled with static. The feeling was not unfamiliar, though she could not quite place the cause. Was it the smoke? Was it the water?

"Perhaps we might hijack the boat out in the open," Reneth mused aloud.

Ellana did not answer; this seemed counterintuitive, that something difficult to accomplish in the dark should somehow be easier to do out in public. Captain Isabela was no longer an option, however.

"We'll figure something out," she said. "The Conclave will be a while yet, and unless things go downhill from the start, it should last for days."

"Hm," said Reneth.

Break was over after about half an hour. The Qunari bellowed the announcement, and the men put out their smokes. It seemed all the loading and unloading was over with, because when the workers moved to the boats, it was to unleash the ropes from the docks.

 _"Andraste's tits, I need a drink after this,"_ said one man, a human with a dramatic scar cutting diagonally across his face.  _"And not that piss they call mead down at the Barrow."_

_"Maker, I can drink to that."_

Pietre and Dalah'shen left first. Reneth and Ellana followed soon behind. The tunnel carried them further into the dark, lit only with the lights from the boats.

 _The lights_.

Ellana twisted to look down at the rolls of canvas. Most were dark and quiet, but from a few seams there emitted a faint glow. With the torches, they were too dim to see, but in the pitch black, they were far more noticeable.

"Lyrium," she breathed, and all of the sudden everything made much more sense.

Ellana had encountered lyrium before, though the Dalish never use it. Deshanna had always compared its effects to Antivan coffee: it strengthens one's connection to the Fade for a time, but also weakens the ability to establish the connection on one's own. The monopoly on the lyrium made it a poor resource for the nomads anyway, and there were few instances where there was any need for such a boost; one or two mages could hardly withstand the wrath of a whole squad of templars, lyrium or not. At most, the Dalish would occasionally keep lyrium in stock to trade; some open-minded Chantry priestesses had given lyrium as a boon of diplomacy, as the Lavellan clan had developed a reputation for being helpful during times of crisis. For the most part, however, storing lyrium was quite impractical; even refined by the dwarves, it had its dangers, and there was always the risk of people assuming the Dalish had obtained the stuff through theft or other crime.

Even so, the boats must be carrying gallons of the stuff, and they were sitting right on them. She looked at Reneth in alarm.

Reneth seemed concerned, but calm. "Are you alright?"

Other than the tingling feeling over her skin and thrumming through her bones? Ellana was not sure. Either way, they had nowhere to go. There was nothing Reneth could do to help, and nothing Ellana could do to protect herself. She could only hope the canvases were enough. For now, the odd sensation was tolerable.

"Let me know," Reneth said anyway.

The tunnel had turns, and many times the boats slowed down to navigate, bumping into the odd rock or wall. However, the sun was still high in the sky by the time they emerged out into the open.

A low rumble sounded from behind them, which grew louder and louder. Around the boats, the waters began to foam.

Reneth and Ellana glanced back just as a glow bloomed from the tunnels. In the distance, there was a series of low cracks, deep and yet deafening, vibrating through their bones. Smoke spilled up towards the sky.

 _"Oi!"_ The ship's crew raced toward the sides of the boat. Someone swore loudly.

_"Someone set off an explosion!"_

Reneth looked at Ellana. "Was that you?"

She shook her head, paling. If the elves had lingered, they would have been caught in the blast.

"We better leave the boat. They're going to turn back." Reneth darted to the edge. Ellana rushed to follow. The crewmen were still yelling at each other. They risked a glance to make sure they had remained unseen.

Together, they dove into the water.

**Author's Note:**

> Emm'asha: my girl  
> Da'len: little one  
> Asha'elgar: Woman of will  
> Venavis: Stop  
> Ma'lath: my love


End file.
